2023 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, February 14 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
- Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, TX
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Tennessee (1x)
- Men: Florida (10x)
- Championship Central
- Women’s Fan Guide
- Men’s Fan Guide
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Day 2 Finals Live Recap
University of Tennessee sophomore Jordan Crooks became the second man to swim a 17-point in the 50 yard freestyle on Wednesday evening, winning a second consecutive SEC title in 17.93.
He now sits behind only a pair of swims by Caeleb Dressel at the 2018 NCAA Championships on the all-time lists. Dressel first broke into the 17s on a leadoff leg in finals of the 200 free relay, with a 17.81, and then in the individual event final, he laid down that indomitable 17.63 that is burned into the minds of American swim fans.
Crooks is now the fastest sophomore in the history of the event, clearing the 18.20 that Dressel swam at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Crooks is older than Dressel was as a sophomore (he’s approximately 20 years, 9 months old, Dressel was 19 years, 7 months old at NCAAs that year), but that matters less-and-less as Crooks approaches Dressel’s mind-boggling senior year times.
Remember that Dressel didn’t go sub-18 seconds in the 50 free until he was 21 years, 7 months old.
ALL-TIME PERFORMERS, MEN’S 50 SCY FREESTYLE
- Caeleb Dressel, University of Florida – 17.63
- Jordan Crooks, University of Tennessee – 17.93
- Bjorn Seeliger, Cal – 18.27
- Ryan Hoffer, Cal – 18.33
- Josh Liendo, University of Florida – 18.35
- Cesar Cielo, Auburn – 18.47
- Matt Target, Auburn – 18.52
- (TIE) Brooks Curry, LSU/Ryan Held, NC State – 18.56
- –
- (TIE) Matthew Brownstead, Virginia/Drew Kibler, Texas – 18.60
Crooks remains in the #2 all-time performers slot that he first earned in prelims on Wednesday with an 18.25. He also becomes the first man to swim a 17-point 50 freestyle outside of an NCAA Championship meet.
Crooks’ swim breaks the SEC Meet Record of 18.23 that was set at the 2016 Championship by then-sophomore Caeleb Dressel. It also breaks Crooks’ own Pool Record of 18.25 from prelims. Prior to the meet, the pool record was Nathan Adrian’s 18.71, set at the infamous super-suited 2009 NCAA Championships in College Station.
Crooks, a native of the Cayman Islands, won the World Short Course Championship in the 50 free in December. He finished 3rd at NCAAs last year in 18.60, which was a slight add from the 18.53 that he swam at the SEC Championships.
RACE VIDEO:
An underemphasized point about all this is the mental fortitude and conviction required for dropping .5 in a just about an hour between his 18.4 leadoff and the 17.9 50 final. Very easy to get shaken and lose confidence after that first swim esp when confronting a barrier like 18 but he did it. I love his mentality
Very true..a lot of young swimmers would lose the belief quickly…
And one more ‘underemphasized point’. This video footage is about the BEST camera management I could ever hope for. Include the entire field, leave the camera as still as possible, and let ME decide which swimmer to watch. Maybe others like closeups of heads and splashing. Not me … and I can always zoom if I want to. My compliments to the operator!
I remember when you had to be good at freestyle, backstroke, and fly. Now if you have good underwaters you can be elite across all three events. The NCAA SCY 15m UW rule will make its swimmers dominate for 15m, but are we already starting to witness other countries starting to catch our swimmers in LCM due to the reduced underwater allowance???
Im going to be honest I dont know why this got so many dislikes. Bro has a point.
Jordan isn’t an American
I agree, very fair point.
Good point tbh, I’d like to see crooks even sniff international success in LCM
In other news according to Meghan’s Instagram story Dressel did a workout with her in the pool.
Dressel is back in the pool!
I guarantee he’s been secretly training
holy white balance adjustment, batman
Nvm
Good lord. Once someone breaks an insurmountable barrier (Dressel) there always are a handful of people not far behind to break it again.
Same thing happened when a swimmer went 18 seconds in the 50 free.
That swimmer was Fred Bousquet who also broke 21 in LC.
So Crooks has proven he can do it SCM and SCY. I wonder how well he can do LCM? Both his SCM and SCY swims are massively assisted by swimming ~60% of the race underwater which obviously can’t be done in LCM.
He has a 22.20 LCM which is solid but nowhere near being internationally competitive.
Yet…
We will see about yet. He need to figure out how to swim efficiently on top of the water, or he’ll get outswum. He got outswum at the pro series.
Yeah that was my point. I have no doubt he can go faster than 22.20 but not sure whether he can really break into the top of the LCM 50 free.
David Curtiss is a better 50FR LCM prospect.
Jordan Crooks is literally the World Champion at SCM (with a 20.31), something I find quite bizarre that this article omitted. Swimming does exist beyond the USA and NCAAs.
The article does not omit it. You just didn’t finish reading to the end of the article.
That’s your fault for not introducing every athlete with their full title, like they’re on Game of Thrones.
Crooks, Jordan, King of the Undies and First Gold Medalist of His Land.
His underwaters are amazing.
The kids call that having dirty undies